Let's Play Link's Awakening, part 19: Link's Grapple

'BRRING! BRRING! Yeah, this is Ulrira! You are starting to like to music, eh? Well, a frog named Mamu, who lives in the Signpost Maze, might know some new songs, but he charges a lot to play them! Bye! CLICK!'

Welcome back to Let's Play Link's Awakening! This is episode 19, Link's Grapple. Last time, I got the Hook Shot. This time, my long list of long gaps in need of crossing will be shortened. But first, I stop by a phone booth to chat with Ulrira. "Starting to like to music", Ulrira? Anyways, it happens there's a gap in the Signpost Maze I was already planning to cross in this update. But first, I'm heading for the gap southeast of the Animal Village that leads to the mermaid statue.



On the way there I discover that the Hook Shot can stun the electric jellies, allowing me to kill them with the sword without getting a shock. The reason I get so close before striking in this gif is that I thought I might be able to talk to them. Link had other ideas.



With my handy Hook Shot I cross the gap without difficulty. I handle the fish's projectile a little less well, though.



I guess if I'd come here before getting the scale the game would have said there was something missing. Anyways, I've found a use for the scale. What will I get for my troubles?



A hidden passage!



You've got the Magnifying Lens! This will reveal many things you couldn't see before!

Neat! I wasn't expecting to get this until really late in the game. It'll allow me to read the tiny print book in the library. I check my inventory - it's on the key items side of the screen, rather than being something I have to assign to a button to use.



On the way out the previously empty cave entrance is full of enemies. Is this what the game meant when it said the Lens would reveal many things I couldn't see before?



Ach! Vat are you looking at vith zat magnifying lens? Stop it at vance!

I head back for the Animal Village, because there's a gap to be crossed there. On the way I visit the villagers. Schule doesn't seem to like my new toy (perhaps he was the one who hid it under the statue?), but so far as I can tell there's nothing new to be seen with it in his house. The picture seems unchanged. I put "Grasp Schule's art" on my to-do list ages ago with the idea that something might help with understanding this picture. If the lens doesn't do it, I suspect nothing will, so I'm gonna count finishing the mermaid statue as having done that. I didn't specify which piece Link would be grasping, after all, and he probably had some contact with it when he put the scale in.



Another villager from Mabe has moved over to the Animal Village, but otherwise nothing has changed here. I head into the cave and get myself 1/4 of the way to a new heart container.



I cross another gap off of my to-do list. Things don't go as well with the electric jelly as with the last one, though.



I also ram all the trees on this screen, finding nothing but ticking off another item on my list.



I try out the Hook Shot on a moving skull, without success. Maybe they can't be killed at all?



I head up to the outskirts of Kanalet Castle, but I still can't cross this gap. Looks like I'll need yet another way to cross long gaps before I can finish my list.



I go back to the Signpost Maze and follow the first four signs. I actually expected the reward to come after crossing the gap here, but it turns out I have more signs to follow.



A lot more. I thought earlier that the signs were just saying to go to the next screen in whichever direction, but it turns out each one points directly to the next one in the sequence. Anyways, just one left:



As I read the last signpost, a stairway appears and I head in. Once again, the sign points directly to it.



Ribbit! Ribbit! I'm Mamu, on vocals! But I don't need to tell you that, do I? Everybody knows me! Want to hang out and listen to us jam? For 300 Rupees, we'll let you listen to a previously unreleased cut!

Pricey! Fortunately, I'm loaded. Let's do it!

The screen starts flashing, and spotlights appear on each frog in turn as they begin to sing.

It goes on for a while. I've cut it down to a couple of gifs. The flashing lights are murder on the gif file size.



Thank you... Thank you very much... Croak!

You've learned The Frog's Song of Soul! It's a very moving tune... It can even liven up unliving things!

I guess they're going for an Elvis thing with Mamu? Regardless, I've learned another song. Now I just need to find some unliving things to liven up.



If you play this song, you'll make everything around you feel more alive!

I gotta admit, I don't know where I'll be using this. The graveyard? On the big skulls in the desert?



'BRRING! BRRING! Ulrira here! ... Have you been to the Face Shrine? It is north of Animal Village. That is a very interesting ruin... CLICK!'

I stop by a phone booth on my way out of the maze. Ulrira reminds me that I'm supposed to be going to the Face Shrine.



I head back through town. I don't think I've shown the kids' dialogue change since Marin left me, so here it is. Now, the Flying Rooster Statue is an unliving thing. Let's give it a shot:



Nothing happens. Oh well.



I head for the Library, since I have the Magnifying Lens now. It takes me a moment to find the book I want, 'Dark Secrets and Mysteries Of Koholint'. Do I really want to read it?



Yes, of course I do!



That's less dark than I expected. Mysterious, sure, but not dark. I'll have to remember it later.



I head back through the forest. This cave is on my list. I wonder what percentage of Link's Awakening players who aren't keeping a list remember that this cave is there after getting the Hook Shot? It's been a long time since I was here.



Heading back towards the mountains I try the Hook Shot on these cracked rocks. It doesn't work, which doesn't surprise me. I'm coming to think they are not breakable.



It does work on the plants in the swamp, though, which I think were previously only susceptible to BowWow. This makes getting through the swamp a little less inconvenient.



I return to the mountain cave yet again, and score some cash. Nice!



The gap in the cave beneath the Chicken Man's house is beyond the abilities of the Hook Shot.



It does get me over the holes in the bridges west of the house, though. What can I do here?



Cutting down the bush reveals a stairway. Let's go!



I check a suspicious wall with my sword, finding a hidden passage to a piece of heart I've been wondering how to reach for ages. That's halfway to another heart container!



A lengthy underground passage takes me presumably under Mt Tamaranch, to emerge on an unfamiliar hillside. What's that thing near the top of the screen?



Falling rocks! Look out, Link!



I carry on upwards, dodging rocks and taking out Mini-Moldorms. I also find 50 rupees in a chest, which is nice, and come across a cave entrance I can't reach. Below it is a field of cracked rocks.



I blast a hole in the hillside and enter a cave. I'll just carry on along this corridor...



Whaaaaaa! That's a no-go! But hey, I have a shield...



It's no use. I guess I'll be back here later.



I try out the Hook Shot just in case (doesn't work), then head back out. The pathway at the lower left leads to a drop back to the area near Mr Write's house. From there I head back into the eastern mountains and another big gap.



Gap crossed! Now, I have this room listed twice on my to-do, because I thought I'd be crossing it once like this, and another time coming in from the top. I mistook the cracked rock floor at the lower left for a second exit. In fact:



You can't jump onto the cracked bit. Instead you have to drop down to the lower path. I'm still going to count that as crossing the gap from north to south.



I've been digging holes everywhere in hopes of getting some heart drops, so it's a relief when I blow this cave entrance and find a healing fairy inside.



I continue through another cave, checking for hidden passages but not finding any, and emerge at the top right corner of the map. I've nearly got the whole thing uncovered now.



One screen to the left I find what looks like a dungeon entrance. I try out The Frog's Song of Soul to see if it can enliven the bird head (it looks kind of bovine to me), but it doesn't. I check out the keyhole, which presumably takes the bird key from the cave below the Chicken Man's hut, then make my way back down. The drop from the cliff takes me to the cave just east of Angler's Tunnel.



Since I'm in the area, I cross the gap over the water here, which allows me to reach the river raft ride. I try out bombing the wall by the first chest and checking the map by the second one, but nothing works out. I have no idea what NOW YOU NEED LOOK FAR FOR A SECRET... means.



Hoot! There are two shrines, one to the north, the other to the south. First, head south, where ancient ruins speak of the Wind Fish... You will learn much there...

I head for the island with two statues, and meet the owl again. I've already been to the southern shrine (I did actually go there again after seeing the owl in case I could see something new there with the Magnifying Lens, but no dice), so let's head for the northern.



I start by heading underground.



I take a break to catch a fish with an arrow, for no real reason.



I cross this previously uncrossable gap and head back above ground.



I reach what I believe to be the Face Shrine. Unfortunately, its face is currently blank.



Nothing my Face Key can't fix. What I'd taken for a wall behind those two statues is shown to be the roof of the shrine entrance. I wonder if I could have walked across it and bombed the wall behind before raising the entrance? Oh well.



I head inside for Level 6-- Face Shrine. If my memory serves, when I played this game as a kid I got stuck in this level, eventually starting the game from scratch on the assumption that I'd missed something somewhere and locked myself out of proceeding any further (I played a lot of Sierra adventure games as a kid). I did eventually get through. I'll see if I can remember where the sticking point was as I play through it this time.

Next time:
Level 6-- Face Shrine.

Map:



To-Do:

• Find another way to cross long gaps.
  -Reach the last signpost in the signpost maze.
  -Cross the river east of the Seashell Mansion.
  -Cross the water east of Angler's Tunnel.
  -Get the chest in the north cave in the Mysterious Forest.
  -Get the chest near the crystals in the cave in the mountain to the east of Mt. Tamaranch.
  -Cross the gap over water to the south-west of the Animal Village.
  -Get the piece of heart in the cave at the north-east of the Animal Village.
  -Cross the gap (going east-west) in the cave at the very north-east of the map.
  -Cross the big gap (going north-south) in the cave at the very north-east of the map.
  -Cross the gap in the bridge west of the Chicken Man's house.
  -Cross the gap in the cave under the statue on the island north of Animal Village.
• Find yet another way to cross long gaps.
  -Cross the gap to the left of the Kanalet Castle gates.
  -Cross the gap in the cave below the Chicken Man's house.
• Ram any trees I come across.
  -Further south of the Seashell Mansion.
• Find a way to get past cracked (but non-explodable) rocks.
  -Get past the cracked rock north of the phone booth near Write's place.
  -Get past the cracked rocks on Mt Tamaranch.
  -Get past the cracked rocks on the mountains east of Mt Tamaranch.
  -Get past the cracked rock blocking the cave entrance at the peak of the western Tal Tals.
• Do something with the Flying Rooster statue.
• Find a flying chicken.
• Do something with the Mermaid statue.
• Find a use for the mermaid's scale.
• Poke suspicious walls with the sword.
• Ride the rapids on a raft.
  -Fully explore the rapids.
  -Bomb the wall behind the first chest.
  -Open the map near the second chest.
• Reach the chest on the south-west island in the rapids.
• Grasp Schule's art.
• Figure out how to kill the moving skulls
  -Kill the moving skulls in the cave to the right of the lake above Richard's house.
  -Kill the moving skull in the cave under Richard's house.
• Do something in the cave on the beach.
• Reach the piece of heart in the cave in the mountain to the east of Mt. Tamaranch.
  -Try bombing the eastern wall of the first cave east of Mt Tamaranch.
• Find a demon to double my arrow carrying capacity.
• Jump down the well in the Animal Village.
• Learn to play many songs.
  -Learn to play the "Ballad of the Wind Fish".
  -Learn to play "Manbo's Mambo".
  -Learn to play "The Frog's Song of Soul".
• Use "The Frog's Song of Soul" to liven up something unliving.
  -Try the Flying Rooster Statue.
  -Try at the graveyard.
  -Try the big skulls in the desert.
• Go to the Face Shrine.
• Find a use for the Face Key.
• Use a key in the keyhole north of Animal Village.
• Explore the Face Shrine.
• Get the bird key in the cave below the Chicken Man's house.
• Use a key in the Bird Keyhole.
• Get past the flamethrower in the cave in the western Tal Tals.
• Get a magnifying glass.
  -Read 'Dark Secrets and Mysteries of Koholint'.
• Go right four times, then up four times, in the passageways of the Egg.
• Find the eight instruments.
  -Find the Full Moon Cello.
  -Find the Conch Horn.
  -Find the Sea Lily's Bell.
  -Find the Surf Harp.
  -Find the Wind Marimba
  -Find the three remaining instruments.
• Play the eight instruments in front of the Wind Fish Egg.
  -Wake the Wind Fish.
• Get off the island, I guess?